Community of Our Lady of Peace

January 2015

01/29/2015

Catholics flooded a Manhattan church that is scheduled to close in August. They're calling it a mass mob and it's based on the concept of a flash mob. These dedicated Catholics are using social media to pack the pews of this endangered church.

It was standing room only at Our Lady of Peace on East 62nd Street at a special 12:30 p.m. Sunday service. Catholics flooded in to show support and convince the archdiocese to remove this historic church from the list of 31 scheduled to close in august.

Digital missionaries helped spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. Parishioners say they also want to showcase the diversity of the Catholic Church.

Our Lady of Peace sits in one of the city's oldest landmarked districts. But its steering committee says it has mastered modern-day financial realities.

Father Bartholomew Daly, the pastor, says that unlike with many churches, he makes sure his is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. That has meant a lot to workers in the neighborhood. Parishioners told us Father Daly makes everyone feel welcome and is an example of faith in action.

Supporters are appealing the closure to the Vatican. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York told me the decision was final, but if there is new information the archdiocese may take a second look although it is unlikely.

But not to the faithful who think this beautiful church built by Italian immigrants is needed now more than ever in a diverse city looking for to be uplifted.

Supporters have already collected thousands of signatures to keep the church open and are vowing to expand their social media campaign to convince church authorities that this church needs to remain in this community.

"God is a God of surprises, and he gives us what we don’t always expect,” said Father Bartholomew Daly in his homily at the New York City Mass Mob at Our Lady of Peace last Sunday. The surprise was the event itself.

Teenagers handed out blue and white wristbands that said, "Save Our Lady of Peace Church NYC" at the entrance of the sanctuary. Ushers collected donations for the City Harvest, one of the community services the parish supports, filling a confessional with bags of non-perishable food.

The church, with a seating capacity of 350, was standing room only with dozens of people in the back and in the aisles, and an overflow crowd seated in the Parish Hall below, who watched the mass live-streamed on closed circuit television. Many who came were current parishioners and their families, as well as former parishioners and friends who traveled from New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Queens, including descendants of the founders and original benefactors of the church, such as Robert and Regina Scudellari, grandson and great-granddaughter respectively, of one of the first trustees of the church, Innocenzo Scudellari.

"We attract people - that's evangelism," Father Bartholomew Daly said during his homily. "This church is holy...it's the people that make it holy."

Cameramen, television and print media reporters were crammed into every available space to record the New York City Mass Mob event. Segments were broadcast Sunday evening on Channels 5 and 11. Reporters and photographers from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Timesinterviewed and photographed parishioners, visitors, and committee members in the Parish Hall, where trays of biscotti, rugelach, Irish soda bread, and coffee were offered to guests after the mass.

Parishioners, who won the Mass Mob in a landslide election among 4 other churches last November, garnered 441 votes and sought to prove how dynamic their parish is, demonstrating to the Archdiocese of New York that this is a place worth saving. “How can you be a more vibrant parish than this one?” asked Steering Committee member Janice Dooner Lynch. The parish is appealing to the Vatican to stop the church from being closed in August.

The idea for the Mass Mob took off with Social Media, as parishioners shared Facebook posts and Twitter messages and email with relatives and friends. The Mass Mob Team also distributed flyers at the church, by email, and at other nearby parishes that are in a similar predicament.

"I'm a believer in Social Media," Father Daly said. Later, during the announcements and acknowledgements, Tami Ellen McLaughlin, one of the event organizers, shared that the Friends of OLP Facebook campaign had just reached 2000 followers. Most of the comments on the Facebook page are sympathetic to the parish, but some are critical of the archdiocese and Cardinal Dolan's decision to close the parish.

By far, the most popular Facebook post is the photo of the little Madonna (the statue on the left as you enter the sanctuary). Maddonina, as she is affectionately called by many Italians who commented below her photo, has become the face of the movement to save the Church of Our Lady of Peace. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception last December 8, more than 11,700 people world wide "liked" her photograph; more than 400 shared the post, titled Salva Me; and 130 posted prayers and a simple Amen under the comments.

After Sunday's mass, ushers distributed OLP HANDOUT 2015, urging friends to write letters on behalf of the church, and continue to sign the online petition to be delivered to Pope Francis, Cardinal Beniamino Stella at the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome, and Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Papal Nuncio in Washington, D.C. The petition has been signed by relatives and friends of the parishioners around the world in Italy, Ireland, the Philippines, and Brazil, and among many places throughout the United States.

There are more than 3000 who have signed in person at the church.The goal, to reach 1500 online signatures by January 31, is in sight.

Petitioner 1338, Mary Jones, wrote after the Mass Mob event:

"Your Eminence, the Church is not doing enough to evangelize and putting too much effort into consolidation. Why not take the idea of the Mass Mob and preach that from the pulpits? And why extinguish the light of Our Lady of Peace when the Archdiocese need not support it? You are losing Catholics and that's what you need to focus on. People have been apathetic - lets show them the focus on God they once had."